The three-day Dengue Awareness football sessions with our FFLA children are finally completed! 209 children from partner schools and communities participated in the sessions.
As a support to the Deng-Get out campaign of the Department of Health, Fundlife coaches facilitated a three after school football/ futsal sessions for the children from schools and communities under its FFLA program.
Since the Dengue outbreak, FFLA coaches reported that some children had been absent from their sessions thus pushed the team to come up with sessions which aimed to raise children’s awareness on Dengue and to teach them ways on how they can protect themselves from getting mosquito bites and to help their families by learning simple preventive measures to avoid infection.
The special sessions went on in all FFLA covered sites and based on coaches assessment children were more interested and focused during the discussions because of each of their own experiences regarding the topic.
“We became aware what Dengue really is and we were also taught about the symptoms of a person suffering from this through the drills that we went through,” Nicky Shane Garrido, FFLA player of San Jose National High School shared when asked during their team reflection.
“I realized that the whole community needs to help one another to ensure the cleanliness of the surroundings. Community members also need to be informed about the right information on Dengue prevention and how to properly handle infected people,” Nicky continued.
Joan Lacaba, team captain of Team San Isidro who is participating in the second season of the Girls Community League also shared how she appreciated the special session that was conducted to them.
“For me, the drills during the sessions were effective. Dengue had been causing alarm and fear to everyone in our community. We are thought a lot of things about Dengue but for us children, we don’t have a deep understanding of this issue. Being able to attend the football session about Dengue made me aware and realize how to properly respond to this kind of concern. Coach Da, helped us learn about the ways that children like us can do to protect ourselves from mosquito bites,” Joan Lacaba shared after attending the session on Dengue Awareness.